PaizoCon 2014 First Timer

[Danimal66]

So on a whim I decided to attend this years con and I'm arriving a few days early because I want to check out the Seattle area. Oh and I'm coming out solo as well, will try to meet up with a few friends I know in the area.

I assume I will need to rent a car to get to the city or any other sight seeing type places.

I'm looking for advice on what to expect from the Con and how it works etc. When I went to BGG Con last year for the first time I missed a lot of things simply because I was not aware of them.

I'm also looking for advice on the area, what to see etc.

Thanks in advance for any input.

- Dan

[Timitius]

Welcome Dan!

I am going to need to do some digging into the archives for my handy-dandy "things to do and see in the area" thread and posts from several of the early PaizoCons.

As for things at PaizoCon... the night before the Con there is a Meet and Eat event (Thursday). We are getting too big to have just the one meet up, so I think there will be several smaller ones to attend this year.

PFS has their Special on Friday night.
Saturday night is the Banquet (sold out now, but watch for tickets begin offered by those who have a change in plans).

Watch the Paizo website all through MAY for announcements for the lottery....this is a system where you MUST indicate what events and game sessions you want to play in. The computer systems then draws names by preferences to select who gets into what game. THIS IS CRUCIAL. If you miss the lottery, you miss out on the chance to play in a game run by a Paizo staffer, a contributor, a 3rd Party publisher, or just really cool fans that run wonderful games. There is always PFS, all weekend, too.
At night, if you aren't in a late night game, no problem....games of Werewolf, Cards against Humanity, Kobolds Ate my Baby, etc. are everywhere.

Or you can sit in the bar or lobby quietly and chat with folks, or read your free copy of Wayfinder. ;-)

Tim

[Timitius]

Going WAAAAY back. No promise that these links still work....

[Danimal66]

Thanks so much for the info, especially about the lottery. I'm sure that will get posted the week I am on vacation :)

Hoping to play some PACG while out there as well. Mainly just want to have fun and meet some good people and play games.

Going solo is always tricky but it worked at BGg Con last year so we'll see.

[Sarta]

Danimal66 wrote:

I assume I will need to rent a car to get to the city or any other sight seeing type places.

Depending on what you are hoping to see, you may need a car. However, you can get to a lot of downtown Seattle via light rail. The Sea-Tac station is less than a half mile from the hotel and can take you right into the heart of the city.

[Klarg1]

Danimal66 wrote:

So on a whim I decided to attend this years con and I'm arriving a few days early because I want to check out the Seattle area. Oh and I'm coming out solo as well, will try to meet up with a few friends I know in the area.

I assume I will need to rent a car to get to the city or any other sight seeing type places.

I'm looking for advice on what to expect from the Con and how it works etc. When I went to BGG Con last year for the first time I missed a lot of things simply because I was not aware of them.

I'm also looking for advice on the area, what to see etc.

Thanks in advance for any input.

- Dan

That's funny. Your situation and plan sound almost exactly like mine. :)

I have some time off around PaizoCon this year, and thought I might check it out. Some of the local PFS players from my local area will be out there too.

I'd love to know if there are any "must try" elements to the con.

[Garak Longfingers]

Klarg1 wrote:

Danimal66 wrote:

So on a whim I decided to attend this years con and I'm arriving a few days early because I want to check out the Seattle area. Oh and I'm coming out solo as well, will try to meet up with a few friends I know in the area.

I assume I will need to rent a car to get to the city or any other sight seeing type places.

I'm looking for advice on what to expect from the Con and how it works etc. When I went to BGG Con last year for the first time I missed a lot of things simply because I was not aware of them.

I'm also looking for advice on the area, what to see etc.

Thanks in advance for any input.

- Dan

That's funny. Your situation and plan sound almost exactly like mine. :)

I have some time off around PaizoCon this year, and thought I might check it out. Some of the local PFS players from my local area will be out there too.

I'd love to know if there are any "must try" elements to the con.

Last year was my first year and I was just like the both of you.

I assume that they do this every year and probably at other conventions as well - all the open games that you play at you get a token. You can keep the token as souvenir. Even better, for each two tokens you turn back in you get an opportunity to roll this fist size official purple Paizo d20 for a special boon sheet. The higher the roll the better the boon sheet.

As far as the "must try" - I'm not recalling exactly what the official name of it was but during certain hours they have this table setup just outside the merchant store with a 3D dungeon level where you and three other people get to (attempt to) survive 20 minutes with iconics. I think if you do survive the time limit you also get a special boon sheet that you can apply to any character (IDK - I didn't). IMO what makes it a "must try" isn't the boon sheet (if that is what the reward is) or even the challenge. Having the opportunity to see the 3D dungeon and all the previous players - ahemm - final resting places. Hilarious.

[Khelreddin]

The 3D dungeon set-up was called The Delve, and my son and I played it a bunch. The DM would roll a die (maybe d12?) to determine which set of monsters you'd fight, and thus what level pregen iconics you'd play. It was a quiet hit last year, and I understand Paizo plans to do it up a bit more and get the word out about it more.

And there was some sort of boon sheet you got, but I don't recall the details - I think you only got the boon for the first time you played, something like that, but we played it at least a dozen times, my 12-year-old even DM'ed one combat.

[rknop]

How many times did you survive?

[Khelreddin]

We survived most of the times we played, though I recall at least one messy end when Merisiel felt brave when facing an angry water elemental. I didn't get the sense it was meant to be especially deadly, just a way to scratch an itch, and it helped that most of the DMs were Paizo staff, so we got to play with lots of different people who I oreviously only knew as names on these boards.